Grilled Peach Salad with Chicken and Balsamic Dressing Recipe
International dishesSaladsUnited StatesAbout 40 minutes
This grilled peach salad with pan seared chicken makes a light lunch that still fills you up. The peaches turn sweet and fragrant over the heat, the chicken stays tender, and the dressing balances sharp against sweet.
The chicken breast is the tricky part, since a few minutes too long in the pan dries it out. The dressing is split into two equal portions, one for brushing during grilling and searing, the other for tossing the salad. Sliced shallot soaked in ice water loses its bite and turns crisp.
This batch weighs about 1.3kg, at roughly 97 calories per 100g.
Method
Make the dressing: combine 60ml balsamic vinegar, 60ml honey, 30ml olive oil, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper and 2 teaspoons salt in a bowl and whisk together. Divide it into two equal portions, one for brushing and one for the salad.
Rinse 2 peaches, halve them and remove the stones, leaving the skin on. Brush the cut faces with dressing and grill at 180C for about 1 minute, or sear them in a pan.
Rinse 2 skinless chicken breasts in lightly salted water, rinse again in clean water and drain.
Season the chicken with 5ml olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and a pinch of salt.
Heat a pan, add 5ml olive oil and sear the chicken. Once the first side is done, turn it over and brush dressing on both sides, then cook until done through.
Rinse 200g cherry tomatoes and halve them. Rinse 1 cucumber, split it lengthwise and cut it into pieces about 1cm thick. Peel half a shallot, slice it and soak it in ice water until crisp. Rinse 140g salad greens and cut them into bite sized pieces. Slice the grilled peaches lengthwise about 0.5cm thick. Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.
Put the cherry tomatoes, cucumber, grilled peaches, chicken, shallot, greens and 60g pecans in a large bowl, pour over the remaining dressing and toss.
Tips
Pecans are not easy to find, and roasted cashews or walnuts work just as well.
Balsamic vinegar sits in the imported goods aisle, and apple cider vinegar can stand in with a sharper edge.
Out of season, canned peaches drained very well take the place of fresh ones.
Toss the salad right before serving, since the greens weep and thin the dressing on standing.
Honey in the dressing is still sugar, so keeping the two portions equal stops the salad from being drenched.
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